The Now and the Not Yet

By Cyndi

I was reading in the book of Numbers, this week, about the story of the twelve spies who went in to check out the Promised Land. This land was a place that God had said the Israelites would live after they had left Egypt. They would drive the inhabitants out, take over, divide the land between the families, and establish themselves homes. The twelve spies were sent to see exactly what was in the land and who they were up against.

To condense the account, out of the twelve men who observed the land, ten of them came back with negative reports. All they could talk about was how huge the people were and how they, the Israelites, would never be able to win a war with those giants and take their lands. The ten reported there were good fruits and farmlands, but in an, “oh, by the way” manner, still conceding there would be no way to oust the inhabitants to get the benefits.

The other two men, Joshua and Caleb, were optimistic. They brought back glowing reports of how awesome the land was—how sweet the fruits were and how rich the soil was for crops.  They concurred that there were giants living there, but because God had given the land to the Israelites, even promised it to them, they could easily remove these beastly people.

What a difference in perception from these two groups. The first focused on the “now,” the second on the “not yet.” The now’s view included huge challenges to overcome and overwhelmingly impossible obstacles to face, but the not yet perceived a successful future of peace and prosperity.

How do we perceive our circumstances? Do we notice only the negatives, the insurmountable odds against us, or do we look beyond those hindrances and see what could be? It’s true we have to live in the now on a daily basis, but let’s put our faith in God, like Joshua and Caleb did, and believe for something better—the not yet.